Every week we take a brief look at all of the Kickstarter video game campaigns that launched in the previous week. This isn’t to say that all of these projects are worth your hard earned cash, but with any luck having all of them in one place will make it easier to educate yourself on the projects you’d like to back, and which ones to run from. You’ll find two types of campaigns listed, “featured” and “the rest“. Featured campaigns are those that contain a significant amount of game information, are from known developers, or are significant in some other way. The rest of the games are usually smaller campaigns that are lacking in information, are from unknowns, have unanswered questions, or have not yet stood out for one reason or another.
Featured Campaigns :
Game : Battlestation: Harbinger Extended Edition
What it is : Dan wrote: “While Last Hope was essentially a space station simulator with RPG and tower defence trappings, Harbingerinstead functions as a roguelike strategy game that sees you attempt to guide a battleship across a sector of space, fighting battles and upgrading your ship as you go. FTL is an obvious inspiration here, although you’re not quite as isolated as you can regroup at friendly battlestations and even recruit additional vessels to accompany you. Like FTL though it promises to provide a stiff challenge.“
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
Game : Demetrios – The BIG Cynical Adventure
What it is : Serena wrote: “Sometimes a great adventure can start from the most unlikely of places. Take an “everyday man” who finds his place robbed after stumbling in in a drunken stupor. But Bjorn Thonen is more than just an avid drinker. He’s also an antiques dealer. While it’s not specified in the pitch, I wouldn’t be surprised if said thief absconded with some priceless artifact. While the basic premise isn’t new to the genre (Broken Sword and Runaway’s done it already) what sets Demetrios apart from the rest of the pack is in its cynical humor.“
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
Game : FORCED: Eternal Arenas
What it is : Gary wrote: “FORCED: Eternal Arenas fuses a variety of genres, but is essentially Diablo with the inclusion of cards. Putting together a powerful deck will give the player’s champion access to an equally powerful range of moves and abilities. Randomly generated enemy-filled arenas and tough-as-nails boss fights will demand a well-put-together deck in addition to on-the-fly combat skills if they are to be conquered.”
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
Game : Hustle Cat
What it is : Gary wrote: “Fans of coffee and cats, rejoice! Hustle Cat has pounced onto Kickstarter, targeting a $25,000 goal. The young adult visual novel project follows Avery Grey, the newest employee at Cat’s Paw, as she searches for romance and uncovers the mystery at the heart of the cafe.
Avery can be either male or female according to the player’s desire, and a total of six co-workers can be romanced, ranging from the quirky social media intern, Finley, to Avery’s dark and mysterious boss, Graves. Branching story paths are a given, naturally.“
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
Game : Memoranda
What it is : Serena wrote: “There are two things about Memoranda that really stand out for me. One is the premise of finding things that have been lost. And not just normal everyday items but also abstract concepts. Exactly how you’ll go about finding them and returning them to their rightful owners is a mystery but it is one that really intrigues me and makes me want to play it just for that. The other main selling point for me would have to be the artwork. It’s hard for me to describe but it really captures my imagination. It’s unique and stands on its own in the adventure genre.“
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
Game : Bertram Fiddle
What it is : Serena wrote: “Anyway, The Adventures of Bertram Fiddle is about the titular character and his sidekick as they travel around doing stuff. And apparently in the first game they run afoul of the unimaginatively named Geoff the Murderer who…murders. The “Victorian Explorator” looks to be somewhat akin to a comedic Sherlock Holmes and Gavin a sort of Dr. Watson type. At least that’s what I got from the pitch. Remember, I didn’t play the first episode. I know, I should flog myself for this oversight.“
Keep an eye on it in our calendar
The Rest of the Campaigns :
Minions War : Not related to the popular Illumination Entertainment characters, nope, not at all, not even a little.
Codename: Rogue Fleet : A promising looking space combat game that isn’t just another space shooter.
LouvardGame : I don’t know what this is, but that’s some fancy lettering in their funding video.
Lesbian Space Pirate Dating Simulator : A visual novel with a very descriptive title from a developer that just finished funding a visual novel called Mermaids vs Zombies on October 2nd. Yes, just over a week ago.
Fire and Sprites : A strangely hilarious platformer with some very basic graphics.
RuGBoT : A competitive brawler/shooter that looks as though it could be pretty awesome.
Lord of Magic : Hey, this developer is in Rocklin; I was there earlier today!
Warped : The second game from the folks who brought us the Mars base simulator PeriAreion.
Kulus : A 16 bit style RPG made in RPG Maker. Kickstarter needs to just open up a whole sub-category for these at this point.
Rogue Harvest : This looks like just another RPG Maker game, but there appears to be much more to it; including the ability to do whatever you want.
The Darkness Of Day : Another RPG Maker game, but at least the tileset used is different than what we usually see!
NinjaFrog : A platformer with some fantastic cut-scene artwork. Unfortunately the view is so far out in the gameplay that it’s difficult to see what’s going on.
Moonbase Alpha 2 : I really want this to be a thing, but the funding goal is insanity.
Cards of the Citadel : Think of this as a mix of deck building and tower defense. Lovers of either genre should check out the demo.
Football Manager 1980s rewrite : The title says it all! Unfortunately the title, a video of the developer talking, and a bit of text are all we have to go by.
CONQUEST IQ VERSION 2 : A new take of Chess. While it doesn’t look particularly impressive, it is available to download already.
Venison Quest : I can respect a game that attempts to teach players about the history of rich cultures, unfortunately this has quite a ways to go.
The Letter : A horror adventure with a budget too large for what’s been shown.
SPECIMEN7 : Animated PowerPoint slides in the place of an actual video are a huge turn-off.
Dargon Quest : The Tower of Doom : This developer ran a successful Kickstarter campaign back in late 2010 for a web series. It still hasn’t seen the light of day, and there hasn’t been a backer update since November 2013.
Tricone Lab : A game that looks far better in action that in screenshots. Check out the funding video, it looks lovely.
Quizgames 50 Games Pack : These things used to be everywhere in the 90’s. Unfortunately for the developer running this Kickstarter those games from the 90’s looked much better.
Geometry Shift : A futuristic racer that doesn’t have the “wow” factor people have come to expect from the genre.
Store Manager: Cellular : Having worked in the cellular industry for the past 15 years I really wanted this to be something. Unfortunately there’s nothing to see here.
Fractured Reality : The cover image looks interesting, unfortunately there’s nothing else to it at this point.
Fat Mask : A crazy, and pretty awesome, looking puzzle game with combat mechanics.
That’s it for last week’s Kickstarter video game campaigns. Watch your wallets!
The graphics for “Lesbian Space Pirate Dating Simulator” could be better, but since it’s only $500, I’m sure they’ll make it.